union members. four prosecutors quit the case after trump tweets and his attorney general agrees that they went after roger stone too hard. and 29 countries with confirmed cases of coronavirus. the global cost of the disease may be too big to calculate. velshi starts now. good morning, i'm ali velshi from ms nbc world headquarters here in new york. we begin this morning and this brand new show with the 2020 democratic candidates crisscrossing the country trying to get their message out to voters, setting their sights on south carolina and nevada where early caucuses begin today at 1:00 p.m.. and while keeping an eye on super tuesday's much bigger prize, where 14 states will be in play, with more than 1300 delegates up for grabs on march 3rd. remember, any candidate needs 1991 delegates to win the nomination on the first ballot. so far, only 64 delegates have

been awarded. so as exciting as it may be to call this horse race, it is very early yet. the remaining eight democratic presidential candidates are preaching a familiar theme of unifying the party. >> let us win here, let us defeat donald trump, let us transform this country. >> we know what we have to do. we have to come together in unity and boldness, not one or the other. unity and boldness, and that is the opportunity for us today. >> we're in a battle for the soul of this country. president obama, in fact, embodied i thought all that was good about who we were. donald trump has actually gone out and poisoned our soul. >> talk to your friend. say that woman from minnesota, she can do this. she can build this coalition. get them to vote, but i'm telling you if we do this, we will not just eek by a victory at 4:00 in the morning on election night, we will win big.

>> in the meantime, michael bloomberg has seen a surge in recent polls, particularly among black voters. he's trying to maintain that momentum in the face of criticism from past statements and policies that had something of a racial ting to them. they ranged from comments defending his stop and frisk policy as new york stay mayor for which he has since apologized, to say that taking from the rich was a bigger problem than income quality. let's just lay it out right now, taxing rich is not a bigger problem than income inequality and finally he blamed the 2008 recession on redlining. during an appearance on the last word with my colleague, massachusetts senator elizabeth warren had this to say about bloomberg's comments on redlining. >> what the mayor is really saying is that this crisis could have been averted if the banks had just been able to discriminate against black and

brown people more. let's be clear. that would not have averted the crisis and anybody who thinks that the banks should have been allowed to be more race ist should not be the leader of our party. >> the former new york city mayor once again offering an apology on stop and frisk when speaking to a rally of predominantly black voters on thursday. >> now, i know i can't change this, but what i can do is learn from my mistakes and use those lessons to do right by black and brown communities who have suffered. >> joining us this morning on our premier edition, the former democratic governor of maryland, martin o'malley, he ran as a presidential candidate in 2016. roland martin, host and managing editor of the roland martin digital show and anna marie cox, with friends like these, her podcast and daily beast columnist and host of sirius xl radio's show.

thank you to the four of you for joining me now. i want to start with you, governor, because when you ran in your campaign, this conversation, the first speeches that came out of new hampshire and iowa by these candidates were about being the ones to be able to build the necessary coalition. when you were running for president it was entirely likely that the democratic candidate had a good chance of becoming president. now they are talking about the fact that it can't happen until they can build a coalition and unless they can build a coalition. >> well that's always the name of the game, isn't it? i think this is a very fluid race. i think that people are excited to be able to cast their ballot in the upcoming primaries and i think the fact that mike bloomberg is surging now in the polls, i think he's number one in florida, shows that people really want to hear what he has to say. at the end of the day, we can all -- an election is not about who represents the best opportunity to protest, it's about actually putting together that coalition that gets things

done when you're in office. and so i think you're in for -- i think you're in for a wild ride here in the next couple of weeks. i think the race is very fluid. >> is there some danger that that coalition is harder to pull together, governor, than it seems to be? in other words, are there candidates who, if they win the nomination, will ostracize a piece of the potential democratic base? >> oh, i believe, yes, it's very hard to put together. we are a big tent party. we are a party of inclusion. and i think we run the risk right now of -- well, in every election, i think it was hadley stevenson who said that anybody can become president of the united states. it's a chance we take in america. and our party, we need a candidate that can pull people together and i believe that we have a number of candidates who would -- could do that. i think we run a risk, however,

if bernie sanders were to become our nominee, of really heading into the fall with a candidate that alienates more people than he unites. >> anna marie, thank you for joining us. i want to ask you, there's a movement, a hashtag called vote blue no matter who, stick with your candidate, but whoever gets it, everybody is going to have to come out and vote in november. do you see that happening? because people are mad on all sides of the political spectrum, both sides of the political spectrum. will they vote for somebody who doesn't align with their world view or is beating trump just more important than any of this? >> well, i think democrats will probably align behind a democratic candidate because that's what democrats do. we've become a polarized country. whether the base is going to cool less isn't maybe the right question, because if you look at the last two elections, the people that separated from the democratic nominee were people who were not very strongly like

associated or identified with the democratic party to begin with. and also, i want to remind people, it was 25% of the clinton primary voters that wound up voting for mccain. and it was only 6% to 12% of sanders primary voters who wound up voting for trump. so the democratic party -- >> so we're getting better? >> right, right. and so i think if you look at who did the splitting off in both of those cases, it was actually people who either weren't strongly identified with the democratic party or had high scores on the racial resentment scale. so i think those are people who maybe aren't the democratic base to begin with. i think the real problem here isn't so much whether or not the democrats can coalesce and it's whether they'll do more than vote, whether they'll talk to their friends and give money and go out and volunteer. those are the problems you might run into with the candidates that are more divisive. but i talked to people and i

personally will do all the gross things that you can think of, walk over broken glass, chew marbles, whatever it is. i want trump out of office. i think what everyone hopes is it just doesn't come to that. and i do think there are a lot of candidates out there that can probably get people over whatever distaste that they have. i think the democratic side, the desire to vote trump out is strong enough to get over a lot. >> so look, the excitement that you talk about is the important thing, which is kind of what i invited you for, because it's particularly early for you. you are in chicago. are you excited right now about this race? >> yes, in chicago for nba all-star weekend, so two hours sleep. ali, this is real simple, i am watching democrats with some of the most weak impotent people ever. we've only had one state, iowa can't count.

democrats are freaking out, what are we going to do? one state that's voted, that's it. you have nevada coming up, caucus, you have south carolina, a state. you have a super tuesday. at the end of super tuesday you still won't even have a total of 20 states that would have voted. so i'm trying to understand this whole oh, my god, we've got to unify. 1992, bill clinton lost the first five primaries. he only won georgia. then he went on to lose another six or seven. and then he won three out of the first 14. he was the nominee. the reason you have primaries is for people to be able to run. michael bloomberg is getting endorsements left and right. he has not been at one debate, he has not had one town hall, he's not been able to stand before voters. so please explain to me how he all of the sudden is the guy to beat trump when he is yet to be tested on the national stage. democrats need to chill out, let people vote and put pressure on

candidates to answer questions. but it's embarrassing to see them totally freak out because two largely white states have voted somehow, that that determines the rest of the country. i said calm the hell down. >> roland martin, i'm excited by your sweater. first of a . >> i wanted to be able to show you some african love on your first day. >> i haven't been in this time slot for very long, but i'm not just from kenya. i am a kenyan born muslim. i'm that guy and that other guy was never in any of the meetings. >> first of all, congratulations on your new show and when i'm on. on, i have a radio show and i listen to people around the country every night. i have that privilege. the excitement to beat donald trump is something i've never

seen, and the infighting now in the democrats, this is normal. that's what primaries are about. you vet the candidates and criticize other candidates. we're going to unite. i think the one thing republicans don't get is that in the past they would give red meat to their base and it would feed their base. things have changed. for every action there's an equal and opposite reaction. the time of trump for some reason, when he gives red meat to his base, it an mates us and they're not used to that because in the past we've rolled our eyes and said what's going on with these people. now we hear it and we take it literally because we know trump tries to turn it into policy. so people are -- there is anxiety, roland is right, there's some panic. the panic is not who is the candidate. the panic is who is the best one to beat trump. it's like cats chazising a lase pointer. if it's bernie sanders, we're going to unite. the idea that he's deviseive,

bloomberg isn't he a guy that did profiling and surveilled muslims in my city, that that sells more than economic measures to help people. it's ridiculous. they'll be doing the same thing if liz warren was leading the pack right now. we are going to pick our nominee and reunite. i don't have the privilege as a muslim for a perfect candidate, nor does roland or any community trump has demonized or attacked. we're ready for this fight. let's calm down, let's pressure the cants, ask the tough questions and then win. >> anna marie, last night she made an interesting point. she said this is a grownup election. nobody gets to come in and save you. so your point about you're going to do what you have to do, she sort of made that point that every american has to do that. this is an election for grownups. there's no savior, no one is going to come and be the ideal candidate as dean just said. you're going to have to do the

work yourself. this election will be won by american voters. >> it will. i would like to point out that if people of color who really had to learn that lesson long before white people have, the black and brown people of this country have always had to vote for someone who is less than perfect, someone who carries some kind of racial policy that's discriminating against them. so i think that we privileged people need to look to those communities to learn how to compromise a little bit. it doesn't surprise me that bloomberg is getting an increase in support among african-americans, in part because i think they're trying to be incredibleably practical and unfortunately what needs to happen is that democrats need to decide who do they want to be president. because we need to have faith that the party will come together. progressives will come together. but who do you want to come together for and who can you get other people excited about, and who will provide the clearest contrast to, you know, the sexual assailant in chief. i think that if the contrast is going to matter, it's going to

be able to get people excited to do more than just vote. i would point out that women are one of the people that need to know there's not going to be a perfect candidate perhaps for them this time around, unfortunately, but again, the alternative is worse. there's a lot we're willing to do. how excited can we be while doing it, i think that's the only thing i'm concerned about. >> because of the kenyan sweater, you get the last word. >> at the end of the day when you begin to talk about how to you begin to build coalitions, it also is around issues. i can't build a coalition around issues unless i am challenging and prodding and pushing candidates. so bloomberg can't stand on the stage and say i apologize. joe biden has to deal with the 1994 crime deal. pete buttigieg must deal with his record when it comes to african-americans in his police department, firing of the black police chief and fire chief. bernie sanders voted for the 1994 crime bill. so the question now becomes elizabeth warren or tom steyer and the others.

there has to be the back and forth and the challenging and really breaking it down. what democrats are doing right now are saying, oh, we need some guy who has all the money. you had better line people up with issues, or you are going to lose because you didn't properly vet them during the primary. that's the point of the primary. let people vote and don't just say whittle it down to one or two people and take what we give you. >> martin, we've got nevada coming up and then south carolina and then three days later we've got super tuesday. do you believe by march 4th after super tuesday we are going to have some sense of what leadership of the democratic party looks like going into the election? >> in a sense, i mean, look, i now can fully confess that i cannot predict what's going to happen in american politics. everything we thought we knew, we no longer know. i do believe this, though. i do believe that people are still searching for that candidate who can pull people

together and can offer a bold vision. what we haven't heard even in the last 15 minutes is really the story of us. how can we as a country succeed together in giving our kids a bef better future? that's the vision, that's the narrative. the trump stuff is annoying and agitating and heartbreaking but it's not the future. and the candidate that can capture that bolder future can bring us together and i think that candidate still has yet to emerge. >> you people are very energetic at this hour in the morning. i've got things to learn from all of you. thank you so much. former maryland governor and 2016 presidential candidate who knows of what he speaks, martin o maloh. roland martin, most of the digital show in chicago wearing a remarkable african sweater for me this morning. anna marie cox, host of the podcast of friends like these and daily beast columnist and host of a fantastic sirius xm radio show. still ahead, the 2020 fight

over union support that's taken over the campaign trail in nevada. but first, attorney general bill barr issued a rare public rebuke of the president but that is not the whole story. his real motivations and why his comments should come as a surprise to no one. you're watching velshi right here on msnbc.

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how long william barr, the man

who offered a 19-page memo arguing that the president cannot commit obstruction, has been attorney general of the united states. now he's saying that the president's tweets about the department's cases are making it impossible for him to do his job. listen to this. >> the president has never asked me to do anything in a criminal case and once the tweet occurred, the question is well, now what do i do? i don't look at tweets, i don't read tweets unless they're brought to my attention. however, to have public statements and tweets made about the department make it impossible for me to do my job and to assure the courts and the prosecutors in the department, that we're doing our work with integrity. >> what happens to the rule of law when the united states attorney general appears to be doing the president's bidding? here's a look. yesterday we learned that barr ordered outside prosecutors to reexamine several high-profile cases, including the criminal

case against trump's former national security adviser, michael flynn. flynn, who mysteriously recently tried to withdraw his guilty plea. now, this comes just days after barr decided to reduce his prosecutors seven to nine-year sentence recommendation for another trump ally, roger stone. after a tweet from the president calling the original recommendation a, quote, miscarriage of justice. four prosecutors withdrew from the stone case in protest of the interference. one of whom is resigning from the justice department altogether. and that move has one former doj top official arguing in just security that we are witnessing, quote, a dangerous fraying of the perception of the department's independence and the damage has already been done. that should terrify you, the damage has already been done. so as we and this harm, the question we now face as a nation is are we a rule of law crisis, are we in a rule of law crisis?

let me bring in my guest, matt miller, chief spokesman for the justice department under former attorney general eric holder and msnbc justice and security analyst, harry litman, a former deputy attorney general, the host of the talking feds podcast and a columnist at the "washington post" and he happens to be in california so you got up really early for this. i'm grateful to both of you for joining me this morning. harry, let me start with you because you wrote an article in which you write the department's reputation for doing the right thing, speaking of the justice department, already eroded by the abuses that have piled up against barr became attorney general is on life support. that is among the most odious achievements of the trump presidency. what is different about this? what makes people so fearful of what is happening at the justice department, given everything we've seen over the last three years? why is this different? >> congrats on the new show, ali. >> thank you. >> the main thing is the direct orders from the -- the connection between trump's -- you know, we always know he's

pushing to punish his enemies and reward his friends. but here there was the direct connection. and just the whole notion of the attorney general taking over a sentencing recommendation after the professional prosecutors had made it and sort of kicking them in the teeth. that alarmed everyone, as you saw from lisa monaco. and it alarmed obviously the people at justice because this was a remarkable backtracking by barr on abc news. i know a lot of people think it's just a dance, we had laura ing gram, no less, saying he's just saying don't worry, i've got this, which would be a hell of a message. but on the other hand, he pushed back hard on the kind of public way that trump despises. he sort of slapped the bully in the playground saying you're making it impossible to do my job. >> you're making it impossible for us to continue this scheme

in which i either read your mind or tweets and know what you want done? >> you could say that, but you can pick up the phone to pat cipollone and make that point. i think it really was meant to be a pushback on trump and it's playing that way. trump was really upset. but you're right, that's one way to read it. it's definitely a complicated relationship now. >> you two gentlemen understand the things that we're speaking about. you were an assistant attorney general, harry. matt, you were the doj chief spokesperson. bill barr in that interview with abc said i didn't think this sentence for roger stone was right, i found out they did it. it's normal conversation, i told the guys to have it reduced the next day and of course then four of the lawyers recused themselves. resigned from the case. but matt, it's not normal. it's not actually normal. if bill barr can release to me the number of cases in which he's intervened in the sentencing recommendation, that would be interesting.

i know of three at the moment and they all seem to revolve around donald trump's buddies. >> that's exactly right. it's not normal at all for the ag to get involved in sentencing recommendations. obviously in high profile cases, the attorney general, the deputy attorney general, other leadership will be briefed on cases and will be aware and sometimes will get involved. but you take this case in the context of what this justice department does. remember, when i was at the justice department eric holder actually recommended that prosecutors around the country in non-violent cases don't always recommend the harshest possible sentence and this justice department withdrew that recommendation. and on the same day that bill barr was intervening to demand a lower sentence for roger stone than the sentencing guidelines required, he was giving a speech hammering local prosecutors, district attorneys and others for not seeking out the full weight of the law and the full sentences available when they prosecuted people. so it's hard to come to any conclusion other than that he has a different standard when it comes to friends and allies of the president and it's not just this case. it's the mike flynn case, as you

alluded to, where just last month the original prosecutors in the case had recommended, after they at one point had said flynn ought to get no jail time. flynn comes in and tries to blowup the case and attack the justice department. and they said now that he's lying to the court, we think he does deserve some jail time. that was reversed and prosecutors are now saying we will be okay with probation. bill barr only enter veins in these cases, at least based on the evidence we have, when it suits the president and the president's allies and that is but unusual. >> harry, are they softening people up for possible pardons for roger stone and michael flynn? is that what this is about, trying to get sentences reduced and trying to get the crimes to seem less important so that when the president ultimately decides to pardon them, the road is clearer? >> it could be one of the goals. but of course it's a pretty dub wis way of going about it. the judge is going to determine

here. i totally agree with matt that the intervention is unusual and specific to these cases. here's the main point to make. there's times when you would consult department leadership, but it would be before and as part of the process of the actual recommendation by the prosecutors. here they were doing their job and then barr, even by his account on abc news, was having a separate series of meetings on the fifth floor that was completely closing them out. that's why they had to resign. that is deeply unusual. will it help soften up for a pardon? maybe. but i'm thinking they hope to reduce the jail time and all bets will be off. i don't think pardons will be coming until after the election and then it's going to be tum ul wis. >> thank you for joining me. matt miller and harry litman.

secretary of state mike pompeo speaks before the world's leading security officials in germany. why the west pulled back from the world stage is at the heart of this year's meeting? you are watching "velshi" on msnbc. ♪ it's the easiest because it's the cheesiest. kraft. for the win win. than rheumatoid arthritis or psoriatic arthritis. when considering another treatment, ask about xeljanz xr, a once-daily pill for adults with moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis or active psoriatic arthritis for whom methotrexate did not work well enough. it can reduce pain, swelling, and significantly improve physical function. xeljanz can lower your ability to fight infections like tb; don't start xeljanz if you have an infection. taking a higher than recommended dose of xeljanz for ra can increase risk of death.

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when i was producer, script writer and actor, i wanted to got oscar, i wanted to be very popular in usa. now i'm very popular in usa. [ applause ] >> but i didn't want to find such way. but, you know, if this way will help ukraine, i'm ready for next call with mr. trump. >> that was ukrainian president

volodymyr zelensky who used to be a comedian at the munich security conference joking about the impact of impeachment on his goal for ukraine and how the possibility of a new phone call with president trump might be helpful to him. zelensky has vowed to fight widespread corruption through the country and he also want on to give a speech asking people to stop calling ukraine corrupt. let's listen. >> that's not true. that's not true. when i have meeting with mr. president trump, he said that previous years it was so corrupt, this country, ukraine. i told him very honestly and i was very open with him. i told him that we fight with corruption, we fight with this, fight each day. but please stop to say that ukraine is corrupt, because for

now it's not truth. >> the american focus on ukraine and its corruption grew under the obama administration due to the start of an ongoing conflict between russia and ukraine. ukraine's situation and the growing power of russia has been at the center of this year's munich security conference, which is themed westlessness, and focused on discussing the weakening of western power in the world. joining me live from the munich security conference is msnbc's keir simmons. what's going on and is there some solution that's me erjieme about this concern, the loss of western powers on the world? >> reporter: the former comedian, president zelensky's joke was that he's famous in america for all the wrong reasons. if trump wants to move on from the famous phone call with president zelensky, you can bet from the leader of ukraine wants to move on. but he did use the opportunity, as you mentioned, to try and argue that they should get more support.

the conflict between ukraine and russia is one of the examples of this idea of westlessness, restlessness, the west withdrawing, if you like, walking away from the kind of liberal values that it has championed over so many decades. the americans led by secretary pompeo are here to argue that that is absolutely not happening, saying that america continues through all kinds of alliances, economic, strategic, security alliances, to hold up western values. now, secretary pompeo and the american delegation here have three key talking points, honestly, ali. they are china, china and china. the american message is why are you blaming us for disruption? it is china that is threatening the west. and i think this difficulty, the challenge of that really is encapsulated in the 5g question because brittain, and now maybe germany is saying it will use

chinese 5g, american saying that is wrong, they're against that and that it causes challenges with the relationship, the strategic relationship in particular. >> good to see you, my friend. keir simmons is with us from munich. the flight in nevada among the democrats appears to have become all about unions and health care. early caucuses are getting started in just a few hours, whose plan seems to be generating the most interest among voters? you're watching "velshi" on msnbc. to be honest a little dust it never bothered me.

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the results of the nevada caucus could hang largely on union voters, but this time around the state's most powerful union, the culinary union is not weighing in, saying it's not endorsing a democratic, after criticizing the health care plans of bernie sanders and elizabeth warren. the union has been a vocal

opponent of medicare for all which many labor unions across the country worry would affect the health coverage that they negotiate for the nearly 15 million workers that they represent. that's a little over 10% of all american workers and that percentage has been on a steady decline since the 1950s when unionization peaked at 35%. union workers typically pay lower premiums and there's a fear that medicare for all could take away the health benefits that they fought so hard for, while advocates say taking health care out of the equation could increase union bargaining power in areas like wages. joining me is randy wine garden, the union represents more than 1.7 million educators nationwide. i'm glad to have you here on the premiere episode. >> congratulations. >> thank you very much: let me understand this a little bit. donald trump has been out there saying the problem with medicare for all is your unions are not going to want it.

they've started with the employees like me won't want their health care taken away. i'm fine with having my taken away in favor of universal health care. why are union members worried that something like medicare for all won't be as good as what they've got? >> let me just say when donald trump, who never actually wants anyone but himself and his friends to have power, pretends that he is supporting anything we do, you know that's another lie. because he's trying to change the debate. the debate should be about how we get to more universality at a lower price point, because right now -- and this is part of what's animating it. in 2018 i want to throw out three figures because i basically negotiated health care for the last 30 years. in 2018 drug companies made $30 billion. insurance companies made $24 billion. half of americans with health care -- i'm not talking about

people who don't cobble it together, but half of them with health care paid over $1,000 in deductible, which 40% of americans can't put $400 together as an emergency. what has happened is that the health care companies and insurance companies and drug companies basically run the table here. so the dilemma, if we were starting from scratch and we were like canada did, like israel did, other western democracies did, you would start with a medicare for all type program with the kind of supplemental plans like my dad had as a senior. but we're starting from a situation where employers basically did health care and retirement security. and so that transition is fraught with problems. >> so people are worried. >> people are really worried. so this is the false choice that

the president and others are doing, is so wrong because they just want to reduce health care. so what we need, i think, is we need -- and this is where all the democrats are, we need to actually fight for universality, fight for health care as a right, not a privilege. not simply say that somebody with preexisting conditions should not have to worry about it. but if you're trying to get pregnant, if you can't, those procedures cost a lot of money. >> you know a great deal about this because every union leader in america, you just said you've been fighting for health care for 30 years. this tieks up a lot of time and work for you. it's been so hard earned. what about bernie sanders and elizabeth warren's point that if we took that off the table, the same thing we said to automakers, if we take health care off the table for your union, you're free to concentrate on you have a range of other issues, wages and training and all that kind of stuff. >> right. >> could you see a world in

which that works? >> yes, i could see a world in which that works but you have to have the power to make that work. and i don't want to get into cross hairs with either one of them. i think elizabeth, her revision talking about how she gets there is actually like, frankly, aoc supporting bernie's campaign said the same thing. it's an understanding that you have to get to a robust public option first and you have to drive down costs and you actually have to have the power at the bargaining table to be able to do that. so the pro act, which nancy pelosi is pushing, which the labor movement is pushing, is going to be as important in terms of working people have a role at the table. because it's not simply that we want to spend less on deductibles and have universal access, that we actually have to have the power and the density at the bargaining table to say to an employer you should spend

this for a living wage. >> thank you for being here. i could talk about health care forever. hopefully you'll come back and this will be a major issue. >> it's really the trust in terms of making sure the transition happens. >> the president of the american federation of teachers. still ahead, amid reports of deaths from the coronavirus outside of asia, americans are finally going to be freed from a quarantined cruise ship in japan. we're going to separate fact from fiction as misinformation about the disease continues to spread next. ♪ no. uh uh, no way. ♪ come on. no. no. n... ni ni, no no! only discover has no annual fee on any card.

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new fears about the spread of coronavirus this morning and the impact it's having. just hours ago, the french health minister announced that a chinese tourist infected with the new coronavirus disease has died in paris. now this is the first known death that's linked to covid 19, what it's called, outside of asia. there are now confirmed cases in 29 different countries. china is still the epicenter of the covid-19 epidemic with more than 66,000 confirmed cases. more than 1,500 deaths have been

reported. several chinese cities have begun instituting, quote, wartime management measures in an attempt to help control the sproed of the coronavirus. and the u.s. state department has announced that it will evacuate americans stuck on the "diamond princess" cruise ship quarantined in japan. joining us from where that ship is docked in yokohama, japan, is nbc news correspondent janis mackey frayer. thank you for being with me today. what is the situation on that cruise ship behind you? >> reporter: americans were certainly relieved to hear that there was a plan to get them off the ship. however, they were less thrilled to learn the details of the plan. as many details that are out there at this point. that they -- in getting off the ship does not mean the ordeal is over. effectively, the plan will take the same sort of shape as the u.s. plan to get americans out of wuhan in that people will be taken from the ship by bus, they will be tested for symptoms,

taken to a chartered plane that will fly them back to the united states. but then when they arrived in the u.s., they will be tested again and then face another 14 days of quarantine at a u.s. military facility. this is not something the passengers on board had bargained for. they believed that once the quarantine here was over that their ordealed end. it's a sign -- ordeal would end. it's a sign of a measure that officials are trying to put in place to contain the transmission of this virus. this is the largest cluster of infections outside of china. and officials in both japan and the u.s. are not willing to take any chances. ali? >> thank you. we'll continue to get great reporting from you, janis mackey frayer for us. we'll talk about the rumors and falsehoods surrounding the latest coronavirus. first ander to most, it has a new name, it's called cosid-19. coronavirus is simply a virus that has a corona, latin for crown. take a look.

when view under a microscope, you can see the spikes in the crown. covid-19 is similar in structure to other coronavirus outbreaks including 2012's mirs and the original sars in 2002. one of the most notorious online sources youtube says it's cracking down on hoaxes. this includes a strange and false claim that the virus originated from chinese people eating bat soup. the most popular of the hoaxes states that the coronavirus is a chinese biological weapon. a million videos have been watched of there one already. i'm trying to see where the numbers are. this one has had over a million views. all right. as you can see it was published by what seems to be a reputable source, but it hasn't been. now the hoax has wound its way to washington. it was being pushed by republican senator tom cotton. he also called the coronavirus, quote, worse than chernobyl. meanwhile, russia has weaved its

way into the center of the information machine pushing a kplam through various channels that coronavirus is an american-developed biological weapon meant to be used against china and russia. and trump is not helping matters very much. he had this explanation of a possible cure -- >> we think and we hope based on all signs that the problem goes away in april because -- which is not too far down the road -- because heat kills this virus. we think. now we're going to find out. you know, this is a big thing. the april date is very, very important because if that's the case, if heat does in fact kill, that's when it starts getting hot, and this virus reacts very parly to heat and die -- poorly to heat and dies. we'll see what happens. >> all right. as the former commissioner of the food and drug administration, scott gottlieb, points out to the "washington post," there's been some spread of covid-19 in singapore where it has been 90 degrees.

joining me is nbc news reporter brandi zidrozyn. she studies the millions information. one of the things that we've -- the misinformation. one of the things that we've discussed, the first thing i did when i heard how dangerous it could be, you go to the internet. you find how to how does it spread, where did it start, how do i prevent myself from getting it. the fascination, because we've spent three years talking about political misinformation, is that memorial disinformation and misinformation is way bigger. >> it's huge because there's such a market for it. everybody gets sick. everybody has questions about their health. as health care becomes larder to get and -- harder to get and doctors visits are shorter and shorter, people are increasingly going on line for information. the thing that's interesting, it doesn't matter if it's political or medical. whenever there's a vacuum of information, there are people that will are going to fly in to fill the vacuum. the way that algorithms work, they'll promote whatever content

is getting likes and shares, and the most shocking content is what's getting liked and shared. >> in this case, cause, cure, prevents, all that stuff. how are our viewers to know where to get good information? >> right. i try to think about who's giving me information and what they want from me. in this situation, it's political ideologues that want me to be afraid of china. and it's also people trying to sell me something -- a mask, a fake cure, this bleach that's supposed to cure your coronavirus. none of these work, but they're all to sell you something. i'm not going to take information from these people. there was a great thing in "harvard health," places to go for reputable information. the reputation abounds, you have the centers for disease control and reputable news sources. you have "the new york times" has a great tracker for coronavirus, "washington post," nbcnews.com. the basic thing is don't go to facebook for your knowledge on

something that's so important. >> thank you. this has a lot of people scared. when they're scared about their health, they go to the internet. thank you for joining us again. coming up, michael bloomberg and stop and frisk. why the controversial policy doesn't seem to affect bloomberg's rapid rise as i had candidacy candidacy resonates are voters. the same voting block he has his sights on. liberty mutual customizes your car insurance so you only pay for what you need. i love you! only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ ♪ applebee's new irresist-a-bowls now starting at $7.99. now that's eatin' good in the neighborhood. ♪

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